CONSERVANCY COMMONS

Follow the Pets for All Forever Community on Yammer now. Use your work email and login to access.

The annual All Staff Meeting and Benefits Open Enrollment presentation is scheduled for Thursday, 5/27, from 1pm – 2:30pm.

This year’s benefits open enrollment period is 6/1 – 6/15. This will be your opportunity to review and choose benefits that best fit your needs.

IMPORTANT: All staff must register for the All Staff Meeting via the link below. You will also need to log in to the training portal in order to access the Blue Shield, Kaiser, and Delta Dental presentations.  REGISTER HERE

Community engagement for Aquatic Park and Fort Mason planning is launching this month! We are connecting with community partners and local residents to understand how folks spend time here, and how we can make these parks more enjoyable, welcoming, and useful.

We want to hear from staff too! Many of you know Fort Mason well and we’d love to hear your ideas.

In case you missed it: On May 6, leaders from the Parks Conservancy, NPS and Presidio Trust joined civic leaders to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the restoration of Crissy Field. Attendees included Amy Meyer, "the mother of the park," as well as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The event was small due to COVID restrictions.

Read our press release about the event here.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and we are sharing local AAPI histories from the GGNRA on the Parks Conservancy’s Instagram.

Meet the Takahashi and Sato families. Before and after World War II, the families started farms on lands now a part of Rancho Corral de Tierra.

Fong Bing Wah, or Wallace B. Fong, was a local Chinese-American engineer with a unique link to the lights of the Golden Gate Bridge. He was also the grandfather of Katherine Toy, our Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Programs.

To commemorate the revitalization of Crissy Field, we created a 20th anniversary web page, including virtual backgrounds and virtual tours.

Please see the new organization chart on the Organizational Realignment page on Sharepoint that maps the structural changes and accompanying Q&As. Starting 7/1, we will realign into two major groups that will continuously be working together to implement our mission and support the partners and people we serve.

Yammer is a space to share, ask questions, and connect with colleagues across the organization. Get started by joining Yammer "communities" (formerly called "groups"), from Yammer 101, to the Park Knitting Circle, for folks who love to knit or just enjoy seeing other people's work.

NOTE: To see community posts on your Yammer feed, you need to "follow" them.

As we prepare for organizational changes aligned to strategic sprint results, many of you are interested in the status of Conservancy 2.0. In the link below is “Conservancy 2.0 Focus Areas,” for your review – a road map for our next chapter. The document outlines key focus areas and summarizes how we will deliver on our future work, including what we will keep/amplify, adapt/refine, divest/discontinue and create/test.

Weds., 5/19 3 - 4 PM:
Our partners at San Francisco Public Library hosts NPS park rangers to reflect on their experiences as Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and Park Rangers.

Weds., 5/19 from 4-5 PM:
Join field biologists Katie Smith of the NPS and David Harelson and Jonathan Young from the Presidio Trust for a fascinating look at the habits and habitats of the coyotes that live and migrate through our national park sites.

Weds., 5/26 from 2-4 PM: The Conservancy DEI Committee presents a film screening and discussion of the 2013, 90-minute fil, "American Revolutionary."

5/20, 5/27 & 6/3: Should employees continue to work from home or head back into the office? For managers, leaders, and HR professionals considering a hybrid work environment, register now for this 4-week webinar series. Watch the first session here.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession have challenged park and recreation staff and city budgets at a time when the need for equitable access to healthy outdoor spaces has never been greater.

This year, in lieu of an in-person Greater & Greener conference, City Parks Alliance is pleased to present the Summer Series, two weeks of virtual programming (6/14-6/25) that addresses the most pressing issues faced by urban park and recreation leaders in light of the crises of the past year.

Studies have shown that individuals who feel a sense of connection to others and to their communities are likely to live longer and enjoy happier, healthier lives than those who do not. We'll learn how some very small, sustainable changes can make a huge impact on bothphysical and emotional well-being.

Log in to the training portal in order to register for the upcoming Blue Shield, Kaiser, and Delta Dental presentations.

6/2,12-1PM, Blue Shield Presentation

6/3,12-1PM, Kaiser Presentation

6/4,12-1PM, Delta Dental Presentation

5/21, 7PM Wild & Scenic Film Festival

5/25,1 PM Pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains

6/3, 7:30 PM, Native Bees are Picky, What you Plant Matters with Sam Droge

Story Map: Redwood Creek and Muir Beach (30 min) 

Asian Americans Part 1 of 5: BREAKING GROUND (50 min)

What it takes to be racially literate (15 min) 

Having connectivity issues while in a Teams meeting? You can turn off your video as well as the video for everyone in your meeting using the "Turn Off Incoming Video" feature.

Have a submission for the Conservancy Commons? Send content and images to commons@parksconservancy.org by Friday at 10am to be included in next week's newsletter.

Share your favorite Park Pics on Yammer by logging in with your work email and password.